


Flora

by dyllpickless



Series: TUA Pride Month 2019 [10]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Ghosts, Light Angst, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, TUA Pride Month, Time Travel, Vietnam War, and theyre so in love, i tried not to use gendered language for klaus because he's nb, nonbinary klaus hargreeves, these lil dudes are just so soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-15 00:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19284682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyllpickless/pseuds/dyllpickless
Summary: Day 19 of TUA Pride Month: Flower CrownDave and Klaus spend a soft, quiet night when put on sentry duty together taking advantage of the much needed time alone.





	Flora

“You know, I think they’re onto us,” Klaus mused, peering past the ghosts of his bloody brothers in arms into the darkness before him.

“What do you mean?” Dave turned from what should be the object of his attention—the depths of the jungle—towards the man that occupied his thoughts in just about every waking moment.

“Who else always gets put on sentry duty with the same person?”

“Oh.” Dave laughed that melodious laugh that made everything okay. “Maybe they just know I’m the only one that can keep your ass in line.”

“You can do whatever you’d like to this ass.” Klaus sent him an exaggerated wink and blew a kiss.

After a bit more laughter, the two men quieted down into the comfort of each other. “Well, they don’t seem too angry about it.”

“What?”

“The officers and stuff. If they’re onto us, they aren’t doing anything to prevent us from seeing each other. And, I mean, we’re lucky. I heard there was a man over in the 101st that they thought was a bit too fruity and he instantly got sent home with a dishonorable discharge. It wasn’t pretty.”

“Oh.” Klaus frowned a bit and leaned against Dave. “Well, they can’t exactly afford to lose us.” The comment was intended to be lighthearted and teasing, but it fell flat into a worried and contemplative silence. The pregnant pause stretched between them and Klaus knew they were thinking about the same thing: the future. If Klaus remembered correctly, 1968 was by far the worst year for American casualties in the Vietnam War. He prayed that number didn’t include the two of them.

“This is getting depressing,” Klaus announced. “If we are going to spend the night together, I demand we have a little fun.”

Dave’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth gaped open like a fish. It was Klaus’ turn to laugh then, and he did so with a loving brush of his fingers down Dave’s soft cheek. “Not like that,” he chided through his remaining giggles. “Have I really corrupted you that much?”

“I wouldn’t call it corruption,” Dave hummed. He always loved their stolen moments together. Whether it be behind the mess tent when everybody was busy, or when they just happened to take a shower at the same time, or behind the bus before inspection, he loved when their eyes were safe to meet and they could murmur soft “I love you”s. But those were always so short. It was in the hotel rooms of Hue that they stayed in together whenever they were given time off for R&R, or when they were both put on sentry duty that they could truly be themselves.

Klaus took Dave’s pause as an opportunity to just take in how Dave looked in the faint, warm light. “What would you call it then?”

“Love.”

Klaus snorted and broke out into giggles, the seriousness from Dave’s confession shattered. “That was cheesy as fuck.”

Dave shook his head, his lips sporting their own lopsided grin. “You know, when we get out of here and we get that cabin in the woods, I’m going to be cheesy as fuck every chance I get. And you’ll have to learn to live with it.”

“I think I’ll manage.”

The cabin. It was something they would only talk about when they were alone; like if an outsider heard about it, it would lose the sanctity that was dripping from the dreamed home. Klaus often found himself thinking about it when he was stressed. It calmed him when the ghosts got too bad, or when it felt like the walls of the tents were closing in around him, or when the gunfire was too close.

They always talked about _when_ they get out, not _if._ There was never any question about it. They were going to go back to America, Dave was going to come out to his family, then he and Klaus were going to buy a little secluded cabin in the woods and enough surrounding land to have a small farm. Then, they were going to get a dog and a few cats and settle down. They wouldn’t have to hide their love if they were far enough away from society. It would be an adjustment for them both, considering they both came from fairly large cities, but they would take whatever was thrown at them together.

“What are you doing?”

“What?” Klaus looked down at his hands, which were buried in a bed of small pink flowers. “Oh. Making a flower crown.” He’d barely realized he was doing it, he was so lost in thought, but that’s exactly what his fingers were doing.

“Really?” Dave chuckled.

“Yes really. Now sit still so I can see exactly how big your enormous head is.”

“Alright,” he conceded with stars in his eyes and love tugging at the corners of his mouth. He stayed mostly still while Klaus was weaving the delicate flowers through his hair, though he couldn’t resist the temptation forever. When Klaus came close, so close he was almost in his lap, Dave leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Klaus’ nose.

“Hey,” Klaus giggled in mock protest, his nose crinkling.

“Sorry,” Dave said unapologetically. “I’ll keep still. Promise.”

True to his word, Dave stayed completely still while his partner finished up his handiwork. By the time he was done, they could both feel the tension of the sun pushing up against the horizon, ready to burst at any moment. Despite this reminder that their time was short, the smiles on their faces held strong.

“Well?” Dave blinked at Klaus expectantly. “How do I look?”

“Like a flower child,” Klaus giggled, slightly proud that he was able to use the slang he’d heard thrown around camp. “A cute flower child, though. One I’d be willing to sneak out of the house for and go explore the town with.”

“You’re always willing to sneak out and explore,” Dave teased and laughed despite the color that was rising in his cheeks.

“Yeah, but this is extra.” Klaus shifted so he was almost completely in his boyfriend’s lap again. “‘Cause it’s you. And you look really good with flowers in your hair.”

“Oh, get out.”

“What?” Klaus protested, leaning forward and placing his own kiss on Dave’s nose.

“Now you’re being cheesy!”

Klaus was going to respond, but he caught a glimpse of the first ray of sunlight. “We have to go back,” he sighed, looking more like a deflated balloon than the person he was moments before.

“Yeah.” With one last kiss, Dave gently moved Klaus off his lap. In a moment of inspiration, he grabbed the book of poems he and Klaus would quietly read from when they were alone. It fell open to the poem they read most often—their favorite—because the binding was cracked due to overuse.

“What are you doing?” Klaus asked, pouting slightly as Dave began to remove the flowers from his hair.

“Love, they may tolerate us being together when we don’t shove it in everybody’s faces, but it might be crossing the line if we go back into camp arm in arm with flowers in our hair.”

“Oh.” Despite having spent seven months in the past, sometimes Klaus forgot they weren’t just keeping their relationship secret just for the fun of it.

“Plus,” Dave added, not wanting the night to end on a low note, “I want to save these flowers.” He began carefully placing them between the poems, careful to position them so they would preserve perfectly.

“Aw,” Klaus cooed. “Who’s the cheesy one now?”

Dave hummed and pressed the book shut. “Let’s go back to camp. I have a craving for canned leftovers from the Korean War.”

When Dave knelt down to brush his pants off, Klaus stole a quick kiss, which slowed when the other caught on. Klaus’ fingers drifted up to lightly brush Dave’s jawline. “I love you so much,” the smaller person whispered breathlessly when they pulled back for air.

“I love you more.” Dave brushed his hands lovingly through Klaus’ hair and for a moment he could have sworn his other half purred.

In one final moment of contact before they had to return to the real world, Dave and Klaus held hands. It wasn’t anything extravagant—it didn’t need to be. All they needed was each other, and that’s all they had.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading <3 Comments and kudos are much appreciated!
> 
> Author's Note:
> 
>   * I think it’s important to take into account the fact that LGBTQ+ people have a history of getting very poorly treated in the military. (This will be from the American lens cause I’m American, but it’s bad pretty much everywhere.) From [blue discharges](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_discharge) to dishonorable discharges, to undesirable discharges. Then, [Don’t Ask Don’t Tell](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_ask,_don%27t_tell) was around for a really long time, and now the [trans military ban](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/transgender-military-ban) is put back in place. It’s a sad reality, but the military isn’t a good place for queer people.
>   * That being said, during the Vietnam War, a gay soldier would often be overlooked because they couldn’t afford to lose more soldiers
>   * Also, Reginald definitely made the kids learn a lot about a bunch of wars
>   * Hue, Vietnam is a city near the A Shau Valley, and therefore is where Klaus and Dave and the rest of their squad probably went for their R&Rs
>   * The cabin Klaus sees when he goes to heaven is the cabin he and Dave talked about in Vietnam I don’t make the rules
>   * I spent 20 minutes trying to find when “cheesy” started being used to reference romantic stuff but I couldn’t find a date so I just went for it. If it wasn’t used in the 60s, Dave probably would have picked it up from Klaus anyway.
> 



End file.
